biked 65 miles; making a trapeze

Biked 65 miles in 5.25 hours today – rode from Menlo Park to Los Gatos and back, mostly flat but with some moderately steep hills near the Los Gatos side. Threw in the Portola Loop at the end to add some time (the trip to Los Gatos was only 4.25 hours long, much to my dismay). It was a definite stretch – I was feeling pretty tired near the end, but my legs and my butt held out, and I’m not feeling any tenderness in either knee or medial quad muscle, so I’m fairly well satisfied. Assuming things go well tomorrow and in the next week, I think I will essay Day on the Ride next weekend, at 82 miles. I wouldn’t do it except that the route will have excellent support, so if I need to sag or sweep I can do it.

I think I’m going to do Day on the Ride (which, by the way, is a one-day simulation of the actual Ride put on by AIDS Lifecycle, including pit stops with costumed roadies, sweep vehicles, etc.) in my blue-and-orange tutu from AIDS Lifecycle 5. (It is, after all, a simulation of the Ride, so I must wear a tutu, dahhhling.) While I don’t have a blue and orange outfit for this year’s ride, I think it’s fun to “fly” the ALC colors (blue and orange), and it seems appropriate for an ALC-themed day.

In other news, I have read through the instructions for how to make a trapeze and have decided it’s absurdly simple. Tomorrow, after my 3.25 hour ride (I added 15 minutes to make up for the 15 minutes today’s ride came up short by), I’m going to cut the lumber for one. I’m also going to start work on preparing the warps for beaming.

I’ve decided that it’s pointless to stress out about how much work needs to be done between now and the Ride. Either it will get done, or it won’t. Stressing is only helpful insofar as it prods me to get things done, and since I am already running at more or less full tilt, worrying about it isn’t going to do anything except stress me out further, decreasing productivity and increasing the probability that not everything will get done). Hence it’s counterproductive.

So I’ve decided to quit eyeing the clock. If I get really desperate near May I can always take an extra day or two off to work on things, but in the interim I’m going to return to having fun. It’s much more, well, fun that way.

Tonight I’m going to rewrite that requirements document for work, leaving me free to play all day tomorrow!